'Desperate need for Kohli to do well as it was with Dhoni. If those guys don’t do well...': ENG great's huge remark
Kohli shrugged off his batting woes, scoring two successive half-centuries and then an unbeaten 122 off 61 balls in the T20 Asia Cup, which served as a precursor to the hotly-anticipated World T20 in Australia.
Even Virat Kohli was "pleasantly surprised" when he ended the wait for his 71st international ton with his first century in the T20 format earlier this month. The star batter reached the elusive three-figure mark after a gap of 1,020 days to help India end the T20 Asia Cup with a crushing win over Afghanistan. Kohli's dip in form sparked a massive debate over his place in the side but he shrugged off his batting woes, scoring two successive half-centuries and then an unbeaten 122 off 61 balls in the competition that served as a precursor to the hotly-anticipated World T20 in Australia.
Talking at the presentation ceremony later, Kohli said he did not feel he was out of form despite his extended wait for a hundred. His 71st hundred puts him alongside the great Ricky Ponting in the list of most centuries. The mercurial player also completed 24000 runs in international cricket and became the fastest cricketer to the feat, achieving it in his 522nd innings. His huge fan-following and batting records do add a lot of pressure on Kohli and the TV ratings too. Former England tweaker Graeme Swann revealed how Kohli impacts the TV ratings, much like MS Dhoni, who remains a massive crowd-puller despite his international retirement.
“India need Virat Kohli to fire. I’ve worked for the TV side and I know there is a desperate need for Virat Kohli to do well as it was with MS Dhoni. If those guys don’t do well TV ratings go down and people get disillusioned. I want Virat Kohli to do well, when I used to play against India, I never minded Virat Kohli’s batting. I liked watching him bat up close, trust me if you think you think he looks good while batting from the stands and on TV, you should stand at a backward point or cover, it’s gorgeous to watch him bat," Swann told News18 Cricketnext.
Swann also talked about Kohli ending the wait for his 71st international ton, saying the Indian notched up the century against a quality bowling line-up of Afghanistan – a point that many people undermined.
“I hope Virat just come good and it was incredible that he didn’t score a hundred for 2-3 years in international cricket because that player is amazing. People will say he scored his 71st ton against Afghanistan, that’s really bad on Afghanistan because they are a good team. They got one of the best bowling attacks, they beat Sri Lanka who went on to win the Asia Cup trophy," Swann said.
Kohli is currently a part of the Indian squad that is playing home T20I series versus South Africa. India have a 1-0 after a comprehensive eight-wicket win in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday and the second and third matches will be played in Guwahati (October 2) and Indore (October 4).
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